GSC Coverage vs. site: query: which count to trust

GSC Coverage vs. site: query: which count to trust

Compared both indexation estimates against ground-truth URL Inspection across 60 domains.

— GSC Coverage "Indexed": median error ±4.2% vs. truth ▓▓░░░░░░░░
— site: operator count: median error ±37.8% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░

The site: operator overcounted on 71% of domains and lagged real-time by a median 6 days.

So what: never report an indexation rate from site:. It's a rough sniff test, off by a third either direction, and product teams quote it as fact. GSC Coverage is your denominator of record; URL Inspection (or its API) is the audit-grade check for any single URL. Use site: only to eyeball whether a section exists at all — then close the tab.